John Stuart Mill

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John Stuart Mill was born in London on May 0, 1806. He was educated entirely by his father, James Mill, and was deliberately shielded from other boys of his age “He was never permitted to meet a boy of his own age, so that he should not realize how different from other boys he was. He never played cricket. He was a grown-up en miniature feeling a grown man’s responsibility, and more, for country and humanity” (John Stuart Mill the Man 15). He was subjected to intellectual discipline. As a result of this system, he believed this gave him an advantage. Mill recognized later in life that his fathers system had the fault in his practical and emotional life, which has been neglected. James Mills method was designed to make his sons mind a first-rate thinking machine, so that the boy might become a utilitarian preacher. Around the age of fifteen or sixteen, John read Bentham in which the principles of the utility was understood and applied. This gave him unity to his conception of all things “I now had opinions; a creed, a doctrine, a philosophy; in one among the best senses of the word, a religion; the inculcation and diffusion of which could be made the principle outward purpose of a life.(John Stuart Mill). Soon afterwards he formed a small “Utilitarian Society” and adopted his fathers philosophical and political views. He took a position under his father in the India Office had secured him against the misfortune of having to depend on literary work for his livelihood; and he found that office-work left him ample leisure for the pursuit of his wider interests, Utilitarianism.


What is Utilitarianism??? The principle of utility states that an action is “right if it produces as much or more of an increase in happiness of all affected by it than any alternative action, and wrong if it does not”. Its basis is the idea that pleasure and happiness is valuable, that pain and suffering are intrinsically invaluable, and that everything else has value only if it causes happiness or preventing suffering. A utilitarian is someone who accepts the principle of utility - and is therefore concerned with maximizing value. Utilitarians believe that happiness, pleasure, joy, satisfaction, ecstasy and so on represent positive valuable feelings; and that the value they represent is of a similar kind or equivalent (in some proportion). Pain, suffering, unhappiness, agony etc are all regarded similarly - that the disvalue they represent is convertible, not only with that of the other negative feelings, but with the positive feelings too. This means, for example, that a utilitarian might believe that it is worthwhile to endure a certain amount of suffering now, if it ensures a greater amount of happiness later.


John Stuart Mill states “Utility or the Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (The Philosophy of J.S. Mill 18). Happiness in this case means pleasure in both intellectual and sensual. He continues that “the principle of utility involves an assessment of only an actions consequences, and not the motives or character traits of the agent performing the action”. Mill argues that the principle of utility should be seen as a tool for generating secondary moral principles, such as “don’t steal,” which promotes general happiness. Most of our actions will be judged according to these secondary principles. We should appeal to the principle of utility itself only when we face a moral dilemma between two secondary principles. For example, that a moral principle of charity dictates that I should feed a starving neighbor, and a moral principle of self-preservation dictates that I should feed myself. If I do not have enough food to do both, then I should determine whether feeding my neighbor, or feeding myself would better serve general happiness.


“The person, bestirring himself with hopeful prospects to improve his own circumstances, is the one who feels good-will towards other engaged in the same pursuit. But those who, while desiring what others possess, put no energy into striving for it, are either incessantly grumbling that fortune does not do for them what they do not attempt to do for themselves or overflowing with envy and ill-will towards those who possess what they would like to have” (The Philosophy of J.S. Mill 1). Here John Stuart Mill comes to the conclusion that a great deal of seeming contentment is bringing others down to its own level.


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Mill discusses our motivations to abide by the utilitarian standard of morality. The problem is that we are commonly motivated to not kill or steal, which are specific acts, but it is less clear that we are motivated to promote the broad notion of general happiness. Mill argues that there are two classes of motivations for promoting general happiness. First, there are external motivations arising from our hope of pleasing and fear of displeasing God and other humans. Second, the binding force of our sense of duty is that we experience pain or remorse when we act against these feelings by not promoting general happiness. For Mill, a feeling of duty consists of many feelings developed over ones life, such as sympathy, religious feelings, childhood recollections, and self-worth. Mill argues that duty is a subjective feeling that develops with experience. However, humans have an instinctive feeling of unity that guides the development of duty toward general happiness.


“….I believe that the very imperfect notion ordinarily formed of its meaning, is the chief obstacle which impedes its reception; and that could it be cleared, even from only the grosser misconceptions, the question would be greatly simplified, and a large proportion of its difficulties removed. Before, therefore, I attempt to enter into the philosophical grounds which can be given for assenting to the utilitarian standard….” (John Stuart Mill)





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